In more difficult times, you have to put more work into everything.

After more than seven years of service in Poland, Ambassador Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács returned home from Warsaw in the summer. Mandiner asked the former diplomat about the planned closure of the Wacław Felczak Institute, the thousand-year-old Polish-Hungarian friendship and the role of cultural diplomacy during the war.

Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács was the first woman and the longest-serving head of mission in Warsaw. In June of this year, he received the Commander's Cross of the Polish Republic Order of Merit from the President of the Republic Andrzej Duda. He still believes in Polish-Hungarian friendship. He is convinced that the Warsaw-based Wacław Felczak Institute, which is now about to be closed by the Polish government, has the right to exist regardless of political trends. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, diplomats had to face new challenges.

If the Polish government liquidates the Warsaw-based Wacław Felczak Institute established to foster Polish-Hungarian relations, the Wacław Felczak Foundation in Budapest will lose its "brother" in Poland. In this regard, the former ambassador stated:

is convinced that the Wacław Felczak Institute has the right to exist under all circumstances.

"The Institute and the Foundation were born in 2017 with the aim of passing on the historical tradition of Polish-Hungarian friendship to future generations. It basically serves social, scientific, educational and cultural purposes and organizes youth programs. Our embassy closely cooperated with the Institute and the Foundation in connection with several events and initiatives. In Warsaw, the Institute, which was about to be liquidated, was one of the main supporters of the competition for Polish high school students on the topic of Polish-Hungarian historical relations, which was announced every year, in which students from all corners of Poland participated. Their preparedness always elicited recognition from the organizers. Each generation is responsible for the legacy it passes on to its descendants. That is why I consider the intention to liquidate the Felczak Institute to be regrettable.

However, the thousand-year-old Polish-Hungarian friendship has withstood many things. He will endure this too".

Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács sometimes has the feeling that Wacław Felczak is better known and respected in Hungary than in Poland. Felczak is a hero of the struggle for a free and independent Poland and the XX. perhaps the most authentic figure in the construction of Hungarian-Polish relations in the 19th century. The II. During World War II, he worked in Budapest as the manager of the Budapest courier base for the contact between the underground Polish state and the government in exile in London. He was arrested several times, escaped several times, and was finally sentenced to life imprisonment in communist Poland. However, they could not break it. He was released in the fall of 1956 precisely because of the relaxation that occurred as a result of the Hungarian revolution of 1956. For decades he taught at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and studied Hungarian history. In the 1980s, he gave lectures as a guest lecturer at the Eötvös College of ELTE. The former ambassador maintained a friendly relationship with his father - the historian István Kovács. He stayed with them many times.

"This is how I became my godfather and the first Pole I met," revealed Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács.

The question arises, to what extent is the saying "Polish, wegier - dwa bratanki", i.e. "Polish, Hungarian - two good friends" alive in the Polish public consciousness? After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, many people sounded the alarm that Hungarian-Polish friendship was over. According to the former ambassador, this saying is still known even among younger people.

"But how much more it means than a good-sounding greeting depends on many factors. It is well known that the Poles, regardless of party affiliation, have a different attitude to the war raging in our neighborhood for almost three years than we do. This often resulted in difficult situations for the embassy. At the same time, diplomats always have the task of finding the connecting links even in such circumstances. I always saw the solution in personal meetings.

Misunderstandings could often be cleared up with honest conversations.

That's what I was trying to do. The facts and the work done can best refute disparaging opinions".

The former ambassador also spoke about how strong the Catholic traditions of St. II. in the country of János Pál.

"Catholic communities are strong in the countryside and in Eastern Poland, and they celebrate holidays and stick to traditions, but secularization is seriously noticeable in all areas. The proportion of declared atheists is growing rapidly in the capital and large cities, and this process only accelerated during the pandemic. It is as if a part of Polish society wants to suddenly and quickly change the image of Poland as a Catholic nation that has been formed over centuries. In May of this year, on the initiative of the mayor of Warsaw, religious symbols, including crosses, were banned in public institutions. Of course, there are also opposite examples. It is worth mentioning St. II. the cult of Pope János Pál, although there have been attempts to challenge it in recent times. The legacy of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, martyred in Auschwitz, is also alive. It is interesting that the magazine Rycerz Niepokalanej, which he founded in 1922 - the publication of which was not viewed favorably by his contemporaries - is still published today," concluded Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács, who also stated:

in more difficult periods, more work must be invested in everything.

"At the same time, we can count the fact that tourism between the two countries is becoming more and more intense as a success. This summer, Polish tourists spent 810,000 guest nights in our country. 5.3 percent more than last year," he pointed out.

You can read the full interview on Mandine.

Cover photo: Orsolya Zsuzsanna Kovács, former ambassador to Warsaw
Source: MFA/Zsolt Burger